DOCA Installation Guide for Linux

Follow the steps in this section to set up NVIDIA DOCA in your Linux environment.

Introduction

To deploy the BF-Bundle software on the BlueField networking platform (DPU or SuperNIC), you must:

Install or upgrade DOCA on the host side.
Install or upgrade BF-Bundle on the BlueField device.

Supported Networking Platforms

DOCA supports the following networking platforms:

BlueField: refer to the BlueField hardware manuals for version-specific support information
ConnectX: refer to the ConnectX hardware manuals for version-specific DOCA-Host support information

Hardware Prerequisites

For BlueField platform users, this guide assumes that a BlueField device has been installed in a server according to the instructions in your DPU's hardware user guide.

DOCA Packages

See information in the DOCA Release Notes.

Supported Host OS per DOCA-Host Installation Profile

Refer to Supported Host OS per DOCA-Host Installation Profile in the release notes to for OS-specific profile support information.

Setting Up Build Environment for Developers

For full instructions about setting up a development environment, refer to the DOCA Developer Guide.

Available BF-Bundle Installation and Upgrade Methods

Methods	Description	Purpose	Scope	Tool	Capability	Links
BFB image	BlueField bootstream (BFB) image for OS deployment on the BlueField DPUs	Production	All OSs	BFB installation (`install.sh`)	Installs OS, Kernel, and pre-built binaries	BF-Bundle Installation and Upgrade
Standard Linux tools	Enables upgrading DOCA components using standard Linux tools (e.g., `apt update` and `yum update`). This process utilizes native package manager repositories to upgrade DPUs without the need for a full installation.	Day 2/Production	All OSs	Based on Linux tools (apt/yum)	Updates components that include changes only	BF-Bundle Installation and Upgrade
ISO	ISO image	Installation	Ubuntu 22.04	PXE	Installs OS, Kernel, and pre-built binaries	Deploying BlueField Software Using ISO with PXE
Bfb-build	Meant for BlueField users wishing to build their own BFB image for OS deployment on BlueField DPUs	To create custom BFB with special kernel and compile additional packages	All OSs	bfb-build	Installs OS, Kernel, and pre-built binaries	Bfb-build github
BF-FW bundle	A firmware-only BFB image which includes UEFI, NIC firmware, and BMC firmware	Upgrade only firmware components	Only firmware	BFB installation (`install.sh`)	Upgrade firmware components only	NVIDIA DOCA Downloads BF-FW Bundle

Last updated: May 27, 2026